


Steve the Herder

by viennak100



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Overprotective Steve Rogers, darcy is a bro, ive had this idea bouncing around my head for while thought i might as well post it, no angst we dont play with that shit here just some recovering, oh canon? i dont know her
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2019-05-01 23:57:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14532177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viennak100/pseuds/viennak100
Summary: Steve's bad days result in a nickname.





	Steve the Herder

**Author's Note:**

> not beta-d so all mistakes are mine and mine alone! been wanting to write something like this for a while, hope some of yall enjoy it!

Okay so something Darcy believes people tend to forget is Captain America AKA Steve Rogers, is still human and has really shitty days. Sometimes these days will come after an inexplicably bad mission that he won’t talk to her about, sometimes he just wakes up stuck in the past. Either way, he’s still kind of out of it.

He’s not violent, not like when Barnes has a bad day. When Barnes has a bad day usually the only people that can get remotely close to him without getting their heads ripped off are Steve and Darcy. Steve can still be around the general population during his bad days he just sort of…shuts down. He gets real quiet and intense. Like Barnes post-Winter Soldier though she would never tell him that. 

Steve’s bad days usually consist of getting up at an ungodly hour (though what else is new) and quietly slipping out of their shared room. He will then proceed to spar with Barnes for like…hours leaving Darcy to continue the very important, very necessary job of keeping Jane, Tony, and Bruce alive and fed. 

Now here’s where Darcy’s nickname for Steve on his bad days comes into play, as soon as he’s finished sparring he takes a lightning fast shower and meets her in the labs, usually around one-ish. On a Not A Bad Day, Steve may come around the labs to take Darcy out for lunch but not always, but on days like these Steve shows up like clockwork. Today he walks into the lab wordless, walks right past Tony and just hovers over Darcy. 

Steve’s a big guy, a real big guy and Darcy isn’t so it’s real easy for Steve to maneuver his body to slowly manipulate her to get closer and closer to the door. He crowds her but not uncomfortably. She likes having him close, he’s warm and smells like home so yes, it’s a little easy to distract her, but can you blame her really! If a hunk of a man wants to take her to lunch so be it. She’s definitely not complaining.

Darcy waves goodbye to Jane as she exists, the scientist mumbles what Darcy thinks is a goodbye in return but she can’t be sure because the blonde super soldier has her out the door before Jane can finish.  
Steve has successfully herded Darcy out of the labs, Steve the Herder. Herder is capitalized in Darcy’s head. The name fits perfectly.

Steve walks directly behind her, body heat radiates off of him and it feels good. He doesn’t talk but that doesn’t mean Darcy doesn’t. She tells him about her day and whatever stupid thing Tony managed to do and while he doesn’t respond he softens ever so slightly and that’s enough for Darcy, she gives him a big ole smile while stuffing some delicious cheesecake in her mouth. 

The late lunch comes to a close and by now Darcy is just praying the scientist haven’t blown anything too important up while Sciencing! She rushes down the hall with Steve right on her heels, she knows these days well enough to be aware of the fact he won’t really be leaving her anytime soon. And he doesn’t.

He stays through all the boring paperwork she has to do, follows her down the hall’s and into the kitchen when she has to force food down the scientist's throats and hovers when she lays Jane down on the couch after she falls asleep at her desk. At that point Steve decides now is the time to leave and he herds (yep, that’s the word she’s sticking with) out of the labs, Darcy barely manages to make a quick call to Thor to come pick up Jane before she gets a neck cramp while Steve pushes her out the door back to their apartment. 

It’s 10:00 pm and Darcy is half-starved but before she even reaches the door Steve hands her what looks to be a cookie, when did he even pick it up? Darcy realizes she doesn’t give a shit and stuffs it in her mouth while they wait in the elevator. 

Darcy’s head rests on Steve’s shoulder as they go up and up, his hand is slowly rubbing her back in light soothing motions. 

He has to practically carry her to his apartment but she doesn’t think he minds, those muscles got to do something anyway.

He starts heading them towards the bedroom as soon as she kicks off her shoes but Darcy digs her heels into the carpet and says, “It’s a Friday night, I’m definitely in the mood for a comedy, sorry Herder!” 

He doesn’t even raise a brow at the herder comment but he does lead them towards the couch and Darcy speaks out into the void that is JARVIS, “Yo J-man can you play Napoleon Dynamite.”

“Right away Miss Lewis,” his soft voice replies.

She’s asleep like 10 minutes in and only is slightly woken up when she feels Steve’s arms under her carrying her bridal style to bed but she falls back asleep before her head even hits the pillow. 

She wakes up the next morning with rays of sunlight dancing across the bed. She’s squished pretty close to Steve, she can feel his chest rising and falling against her back. It feels nice to wake up like this. 

When Steve has a bad day, it takes a lot out of him, mostly mentally. The morning after a rough one is usually the only time he sleeps in.

Also, the thing about Steve’s bad days is sometimes they don’t just last a day, sometimes it’s two, sometimes three days. The longest continuous ‘bad day’ Steve has had was a full week, like weekend and everything.

Darcy feels Steve stir behind her and she turns over in bed just in time to see his eyes crack open, is fucking annoying sometimes that he can look so damn beautiful even after waking up just seconds before.

He cracks her a smile and she knows Steve the Herder is gone and Steve the Steve is back, she loves all of him, deeply and sometimes that scares Darcy, that she loves him so much it almost hurts. But it’s also nice and when Steve leans in to give her a long, deep kiss that promises something more she realizes this is exactly where she wants to be, Steve the Herder and Steve the Steve and all.

**Author's Note:**

> don't forget to leave some kudos if you like it, maybe even comment? i'm thinking of doing either another bucky/darcy ficlet or another steve/darcy ficlet, i can't decide lol


End file.
